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Up-ressing 4:3 SD media to HD
I’m trying to find the best way to up-res SD media (already digitized with no access to master tapes) to HD, and it has become obvious rather quickly that the best way to do this must not be within FCP itself. i’m wondering if there is a best practice way of doing this, and am unsure what the best tool(s) and settings are.
i am currently working with interlaced 4:3 footage ripped from a DVD that i need to incorporate into an HD video. i would like to incorporate the 4:3 media into a 720P 16:9 DVCPRO HD project so that the 4:3 footage appears to have been shot widescreen (i.e. cropping off the top and bottom of the 4:3 frame).
i assumed the best way to do this was to run the 4:3 footage through mpeg streamclip (or compressor which i haven’t tried), to remove interlacing, and upconvert the SD to a custom frame size where the width of the file would match the width of the existing DVCPRO HD footage. this has proved problematic, partially do to my confusion as to how the DVCPRO HD codec deals with it’s version of anamorphic footage.
i have tried upressing to the following dimensions in the DVCPRO HD codec:
– 1248 x 832 – when dropped into 720P DVCPRO HD timeline, media looks squashed vertically and has small letterbox bars on top and bottom. needs to be scaled up vertically in FCP which creates interlacing artifacts / pixelization.
– 960 x 720 (to test aspect ratio / anamorphic issue) – footage fills 720P DVCPRO HD timeline perfectly and appears stretched horizontally.
i have no idea how to make the aspect ratio of the upressed SD correct since i’m going into a custom frame size and dealing with the stretched DVCPRO HD codec. i also can’t seem to remove interlacing artifacts very well using this method .. any advice on these issues would be greatly appreciated!
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9 Replies
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Red Giant Software has a good up-rez plugin called “Magic Bullet Instant HD.” It does a pretty good job…
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thanks for the tip, but sorry for not specifying — i need the best solution without the purchase of additional software. i have the full Final Cut Suite including Compressor, full CS4 suite including After Effects (which i only have a very basic knowledge of), MPEG Streamclip .. i of course would be open to downloading any other free software or plug-ins ..
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Run it through Compressor.
OR…
Drop the clip as is – in your HD sequence and (If you like) layer it over a background that fills the screen.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
thanks for the tips .. unfortunately the background isn’t an option — i need to crop the 4:3 video to conform it to the 16:9 720P HD timeline.
if i’m going to run it through compressor, does anyone know what the best dimensions are to use for this and how to make sure FCP interprets the aspect ratio correctly?
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Just wondering: 720P is 1280 x 720, so if you upscaled the 4:3 to 1280 x 960 (converting the file to progressive scan at the same time), you’d have the long side right and when you cut it into a sequence you’d be able to scan up and down for framing (keeping the size to 100%, just changing the vertical position). I haven’t done this myself… can anyone think of a reason for it not to work?
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DVCPRO HD is usually 960X720 I believe.
In Compressor, choose a format preset that matches your sequence.
Turn Frame controls on. (You need to save as or duplicate a preset)
Set the frame controls to best. Create a DVCPRO HD file.You have a challenge though b/c you have a 4X3 file. You could just blow it up straight and put black bars across the top and bottom, emulating widescreen too as an option.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
this just keeps getting more and more strange: i tried to up-res the 4:3 file to 1280 x 960, not only does the file look slightly squashed vertically in FCP, but the right side of the frame is cropped off! i have double checked all my compressor settings and this appears to be a FCP bug .. it only appears cropped in FCP, but the original file (also squashed vertically in QT, even moreso) is not cropped at all.
i think all these problems are due to the the aspect ratio / the DVCPRO HD format being “anamorphic”. i’m sure if i all my media was in ProRes i would not be having these problems .. of course my timeline is in DVCPRO HD and at this point kind of needs to be.
any other ideas / thoughts?
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Check your distort settings in FCP.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
first thing i did! 😛
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